Janet Campbell Hale
Janet Campbell Hale (born January 11, 1946, Riverside, California) is a Native American writer. Her father was a full-blood Coeur d'Alene, and her mother was of Kootenay, Cree and Irish descent.
Her work often explores issues of Native American identity and discusses poverty, abuse, and the condition of women in society. She wrote Bloodlines: Odyssey of a Native Daughter, which includes a discussion of the Native American experience as well as stories from her own life. She also wrote The Owl's Song, The Jailing of Cecilia Capture and Women on the Run. Janet Campbell Hale currently lives on the Coeur d'Alene Reservation in De Smet, Idaho. |
Summary
Billy White Hawk is an Indian boy shook up by his cousin Tom's suicide, who goes to live with his older sister in a California city. The story begins with the most violent and dramatic scene -- Tom shooting himself in front of Billy and two girls after accidentally burning down his family's shack. Following that there are stretches of desolation as Billy broods in the cabin he shares with his drunken widowed father, and later marks time in his sister's tacky apartment. At school where Billy is persecuted by the black kids his only consolation is art class and the prospect of entering a city-wide exhibit, but when he is finally goaded by classmates to make a speech telling off both white and black Americans, even the art teacher who had encouraged him finks out. Back at the reservation where he buries his father, Billy finds strength in his Indian heritage and confidence that things will be ""all right"" when he goes away again somewhere else -- a vague and somewhat arbitrary solution to be sure, but the inside view of both of Billy's bleak worlds and the novel perspective on racial intolerance makes Billy's problems worth a hearing.
Why I like this BookBilly White Hawk is used as a vehicle to convey the real attributes of racism. I think the students will be mature enough to handle this kind of violent and real story in class. I am hoping this will teach students one of two things:
This story also takes place in Coeur d'Alane Idaho, a place near to my heart and my hometown. |
Link to buy book: The Owl's Song
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Lesson Plan
Link to Lesson Plan: Our Private Idaho
Overview:
There is a lesson plan that specifically uses Coeur d'Alane Idaho as an example of a demographically homogeneous area and should be used in conjunction with this book.
Essential Questions
The episode “Our Private Idaho” takes viewers to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Once the epicenter of the Aryan Nations’ white-supremacy movements, Coeur d’Alene has nearly doubled in population in the last two decades. Nearly 90 percent of its new arrivals are white, and although the percentage of nonwhite residents is gradually increasing, it’s still tiny at 5.5 percent. (Full Video available with lesson plan)
Overview:
There is a lesson plan that specifically uses Coeur d'Alane Idaho as an example of a demographically homogeneous area and should be used in conjunction with this book.
Essential Questions
- What does it mean to live in a racially homogeneous community?
- What can be learned from varying points of view?
The episode “Our Private Idaho” takes viewers to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Once the epicenter of the Aryan Nations’ white-supremacy movements, Coeur d’Alene has nearly doubled in population in the last two decades. Nearly 90 percent of its new arrivals are white, and although the percentage of nonwhite residents is gradually increasing, it’s still tiny at 5.5 percent. (Full Video available with lesson plan)
“Our Private Idaho” captures the complexity of living in an overwhelmingly white community, exploring life in Coeur d’Alene from a variety of perspectives. We hear from the lawyer who successfully fought the activities of the Aryan Nations over 15 years ago, white migrants who’ve more recently sought a refuge in the town’s idyllic setting, the city’s first African-American firefighter (a designation he dislikes) and the co-owner of a local Mexican restaurant besieged by white supremacists but ultimately supported by the community.